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Cover image for FAQ Off: An Open Source Project to Defeat Harassment Mobs and Anti-Intellectualism

FAQ Off: An Open Source Project to Defeat Harassment Mobs and Anti-Intellectualism

Soatok Dreamseeker on April 13, 2020

Social media is inherently asymmetric. That observation shouldn't surprise anyone. After all, most of us have a very small number of followers, but...
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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald • Edited

Saving this! Your project looks awesome.

Huh. "Sea lioning." So THAT is what it's called! One of my regular answers to sea-lioning is "I am not obligated to put my important tasks on hold to do the research you are too lazy to do yourself. If you care so much about the counterpoint, look it up yourself. You clearly have the time I don't." (That reverses the psychological tactic: at that point, most trolls will back off, lest they label themselves as lazy by their own flawed heuristic.)

I will sometimes ask people for sources, too, but I handle it quite differently. "I've seen X and Y (counterpoints). Do you happen to have a link/source on that? I'm curious." Sometimes also, "You should look into that a bit more for yourself. I think you may have overlooked X and Y." But I try to let it go beyond that! Life ain't Wikipedia.

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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald

I just thought of one more doozy of a shutdown re: sea-lions.

Troll: Do you have a source on that?

Me: Do you have a source proving I should cite sources on every statement I make in a casual conversation?

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cryptoquick profile image
Distributed Hunter Trujillo • Edited

Maybe even just upload the sea lion graphic posted and say, "arf arf, goes the sea lion!"
But only if it's clear they're arguing in bad faith.
But then, there's FAQ Off now!

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l04db4l4nc3r profile image
Angad Sharma

What an innovative project. I love the thought that went into making it!